It Backfired On Her
The TikTok user @rari_xo probably expected to get a little bit of sympathy from her fans when she shared her story with her followers. After all, one employee from that taco place had just thrown burning salsa all over her face and eyes for no apparent reason! That was an outrage.
She was hoping to get some consolation from her fans online. But the reactions to her story were nothing like she expected and hoped them to be.
It Was A Normal Day
It was just another day in Los Angeles for TikToker @rari_xo and her girlfriend. It was a beautiful Monday morning. They had woken up at noon and recorded some content as usual.
Deciding to get some well-deserved rest, the pair took a stroll around the city of angels. Little did they know, their beautiful Monday was about to turn into a nightmare.
They Grabbed Something To Eat
It was almost time for lunch, and they were feeling hungry. There was still some work to do in the evening, as @rari_xo had some ideas for a couple of videos, and she would need some calories to get through it.
So they decided to stop by a taco truck and order some food to enjoy during the rest of the afternoon. And that’s when it all began.
They Were Taking Too Long
@rari_xo just made two orders, one for her girlfriend and one for herself. She was in a bit of a rush, as she had to go back home to keep working.
But the cooks were taking longer than expected. At first, the TikToker just kept patiently waiting, but she soon became annoyed by the bad service.
She Got Tired Of Waiting
After 15 minutes passed, she just thought that enough was enough. She wanted her tacos, and she wanted them now.
If they couldn’t prepare them fast enough, she would just go somewhere else. @rari_xo decided to say something to the employees at the taco truck.
She Asked For A Refund
She told them that it was taking too long. She canceled her order and asked for a refund. But this didn’t sit too well with the taco truck employees.
They handed her an order and asked for the payment. Hopefully, that would be her order. But when @rari_xo looked inside the bag, an unpleasant surprise was waiting for her.
What A Mess!
According to the TikToker’s report, the tacos were unwrapped and shoved into a bag with fries loosely thrown on top. To add insult to injury, there weren’t supposed to be any fries there in the first place: she had ordered rice as a side, not fries.
It almost looked like they wanted to get rid of @rari_xo as soon as possible. But the TikToker wasn’t having it.
She Asked For A Refund Again
She asked for a refund once again. In her eyes, the late and sloppy delivery of the food was enough reason for her to get her money back.
At this point of the story, the details get messy and unclear. But according to @rari_xo, what the employee from the taco truck did next was out of line: allegedly, she started yelling and cursing at her and took back the food.
She Decided To Take Action
The TikToker kept asking for a refund, but at that point, the exchange was already tainted, and the taco truck employee wasn’t even acknowledging her. To @rari_xo, this was an outrageous offense. How dare she?
So she decided to cross the Rubicon. She would take justice into her own hands, but this only escalated matters and made things worse.
She Wanted Her Money Back
She reached for the jar where the taco truck employees kept the tips. “I grabbed the tip jar because if you’re not going to give me my money, I’m going to get my money.
“Probably wasn’t the right thing to do. I admit that” she explained later when recounting the incident. But the taco truck employee wasn’t willing to let her get away with that.
Hot Sauce All Over
She emptied a bottle of hot sauce on the TikToker’s face. The TikToker couldn’t see; her eyes burned, and she felt disorientated, so she decided to just run for it.
While she was trying to escape, the taco truck employee also threw the tips jar at her. Finally, she got home with her girlfriend, safe and sound. But it didn’t end there.
She Shared Her Story
@rari_xo felt humiliated. That was no way of treating people! Even if she tried to take the tips earned by those taco truck workers during the day, she didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. Or that’s what she thought.
She decided to share her story on her TikTok page, looking for a little bit of sympathy after the traumatic event. But she didn’t expect what happened next.
The FIrst Comments
The first reactions by her followers started showing up soon enough and they weren’t compassionate to @rari_xo at all.
As more reactions and comments followed, the TikToker was baffled. Her followers weren’t siding with her. Instead, they judged her behavior as being out of line. This was not what @rari_xo expected. These were some of the comments.
They Weren’t Siding With Her
“Why do you keep switching stories tho? Especially about the tip jar. Thought she assaulted you, so you threw it. Mmmm, something seems off,” said one user. Another said: “Now that I heard the entire story, you were 100% in the wrong.”
A more temperate one said: “Yeah, that looks like ketchup. I’m just saying there are always two sides of the story so let’s make sure to listen to both before jumping to conclusions.”
Did She Learn Her Lesson?
This was definitely not what @rari_xo was expecting. She expected to have her followers consoling her and licking the wounds on her ego. She might have learned a lesson in humility from this.
However, sadly, some people don’t learn as quickly as others, and the TikToker chose to double down instead.
A New World
Since the rise of social media platforms such as TikTok, there seems to have been exponential growth in the number of confrontational incidents that occur these days too. Perhaps it’s that these incidents are just recorded and shared online so much more often now.
Either way, many people are beginning to feel that the world is starting to lack forms of common decency that were once considered normal.
The New Normal
In the past, conventional celebrities were usually movie stars or famous musicians. With the introduction of platforms like TikTok, it seems that these days, ordinary people becoming famous is the new normal.
Unfortunately, it also seems that with this fame has come more inflated egos in the world. @rari_xo appears to have proven this point by her behavior after the incident.
Are We To Blame?
The rise of TikTok and Youtube stars has a lot to do with the people that follow them and their content. Without subscribers and followers, many of the largest social media stars would likely have remained in obscurity.
When the behavior of these stars comes into the spotlight, many people argue that it is the followers who actually feed into the hysteria that makes them sometimes act out in the ways they do.
Fame Is A Fickle Friend
Like numerous celebrities throughout history, many social media stars often discover the dark side of fame the hard way. When everything you do is posted online, it can sometimes become difficult to distinguish “the show” from reality.
When @rari_xo experienced the incident with the taco truck, like many other famous TikTokers such as Charlie and Dixie D’Amelio, it was ultimately her own actions that resulted in the incident being blown so far out of proportion.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Regardless of who was right or wrong, the incident itself could have avoided the public scrutiny that ensued.
However, there seems to be a growing trend of people turning to social media to air their grievances or simply look for sympathy. When @rari_xo chose to post about the incident, it seems she invited this scrutiny upon herself.
It Should Have Ended There
After posting about the incident and receiving backlash for it herself, the TikToker could have simply left it at that. When you’re accustomed to thousands of likes and positive comments about your life, it’s easy to see how this might give a person a misguided sense of importance.
The incident might not have gained the further traction it got, but @rari_xo’s behavior after the backlash ensured it did.
What She Did After
After the initial fallout with her own fans, it was clear that the TikToker should have cut her losses then. It was clear to many that she was not happy with people not taking her side.
This must have hurt more, considering they were her own followers and usually praised everything she did. While acknowledging that she played a part in escalating the incident, she initially stubbornly clung to her role as the perceived victim.
It Got Worse
When @rari_xo did start eventually backing down from the incident and even apologized for their part, to many, it came across as insincere.
Her reputation amongst her own fans was taking a hit by this point. Her initial attempts at trying to justify her own role made it difficult for many users to take her apologies seriously.
A Slippery Slope
In the world of the public spotlight, every action a person takes is now scrutinized more than ever. @rari_xo found this out the hard way. Between changing her story and admitting to grabbing the tip jar, she had already cast herself as the story's villain.
Whether she was later advised to backtrack is unclear. What is clear is that by the time she did, she was facing a worse fate than simply losing some fans.
The Real Danger
In the world of social media, life can be a balancing act. While being risqué and controversial can get you more followers and likes, too much and public figures often face a specific danger.
That danger isn’t a tarnished reputation or simply losing some followers. In today’s world, when public figures straddle the line between controversy and unacceptable conduct, the actual danger is being canceled outright.
How Did She Fare?
It seems that @rari_xo might have been conscious of this fact and in the end, took a more pragmatic approach. By eventually accepting that she was “wrong” and apologizing, she seems to have averted this crisis.
Fan opinion seemed to have been split, and as mentioned, fame can be fickle. There is still one crucial question that looms over the entire incident.
How It Ended
After the incident went viral, this of course placed even more scrutiny on it. The main question that remained was whether @rari_xo deserved the backlash or not?
Without knowing most of the true facts, it’s hard to say. Either way, she has since found an inventive way to put the incident behind her.
Head In The Sand
The TikToker hasn’t seemed to have been too badly affected by what occurred on that fateful day. A glance at her current status and it’s clear that her following hasn’t been all that badly affected.
Capitalizing on this, she has since decided to delete all mentions of the incident from her profile and simply returned to the kind of content that she usually puts out.
A Lesson Learned
Regardless of how things turned out, @rari_xo has likely learned a valuable lesson. As much as having adoring fans can be a wonderful feeling, having such a following is a privilege and not a right.
Along with the following comes a responsibility to behave in a manner that adds value to the world. This is a lesson that many social media stars could stand to learn as fame also comes with the ability to influence others.
It’s All Good
In the end, the incident seems to have blown over and it's been business as usual for the TikToker. It’s likely that she won’t be so cavalier with her actions again.
The story itself acts as a stark reminder that public opinion counts more than ever in today’s world. Everyone seems to have an opinion these days, so the question is, what’s yours?